It is known that zirconium salts such as the oxychloride, acetate and ammonium zirconyl carbonate (AZC) are able to convert aqueous solutions of polymers capable of forming hydrophilic colloids, whether naturally occurring polymers such as starch and casein or synthetic polymers such as polyacrylic acid, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol or cellulose derivatives, into insoluble films. These films exhibit excellent adhesive qualities and water resistance and find applications in many technologies particularly those technologies concerned with the manufacture and use of paper and paper board.
Although those salts of zirconium which give aqueous solutions of pH less than 7, e.g. the oxychloride and acetate, are highly effective as insolublizing agents the practical application of their insolublizing property is often limited by their corrosive nature, the uncontrolled speed of their gelling action and by the fact that many practical systems, e.g. most of those in paper coating technology, operate at a pH greater than 7. An illustration of their application is provided by the use of zirconium acetate solution as a wash liquid which is applied to a coating of starch on paper in order to render the starch coating insoluble. In addition with AZC, its solutions suffer reduced stability at neutral and lower pH due to decomposition of the carbonate ion. This instability of alkali metal zirconyl carbonate solutions inhibits their use in paper coating systems.